Schools

School District Approves Tax Increase

The West Chester School Board approves a tax increase of 1.7 percent.

The West Chester Area School Board voted to raise district property taxes 1.7 percent on Monday night as part of the final budget for the 2012-13 school year.

“Just like last year this was a very difficult decision,” said school board member Sean Carpenter.  “Even though we are raising taxes this year, we will continue to be extremely diligent moving forward.”

Several residents at the meeting asked the board to not raise taxes, arguing that the district needs to fix its “spending problem.”

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“Raising taxes is the easy solution,” said one resident.  “I can’t tell my wife I’m going to increase my spending by 1.7 percent because I simply don’t have the money.”

Board member Maureen Snook was the only person on the board to vote against the final budget, and she said that board didn’t go far enough to make spending cuts.

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“We need to ask ourselves if we’ve done everything we can?” Snook said.  “I will submit that the answer is no.”

“Under the circumstances I would say that we’ve done everything we can to get the budget down,” said board member Dr. Maria Pimley.  “Just because I am voting yes on this tax increase does not mean I will stop looking for efficiencies.”

The total budget for the 2012-13 school year will be $201 million marking the second year in a row that the board has kept the district’s costs below the 2009-2010 level of $203 million.

“Nine months ago we were looking at a projected budget for 2012-13 of around $211 million,” Carpenter said.  “I think the administration and members of the community should be commended for all their hard works in shrinking that number by $10 million.”

Still, the district faces a dire financial future unless local markets recover from the recession at a faster rate.  According to current forecast models, the district’s deficit could continue to swell and might reach as much as $25 million by 2015-16.

The driving force behind those increases in costs is the state mandated pension plan for district employees.

“Pensions are growing,” Carpenter said.  “The district used to contribute between zero percent and four percent to pension funds, and the state would pay the rest.  In the future that number could go as high as 28 percent.”

“How can we make up that money for costs that are out of our control?” Carpenter asked. 

With the tax increase residents will also see the millage rate increase to 18.67.  The average tax bill is expected to increase by $58, while the average commercial tax bill will increase by $271.

On average a West Chester School District homeowner will pay a yearly tax bill of $3,544, while a commercial landowner will pay $16,196.

“We still face significant budget gaps in the future,” Carpenter said.  “We need to make sure that we’re spending money on the right things in the right way.


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